Robert Fowke | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/profile/robert-fowke
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Advice to pirates | Robert Fowkehttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/nov/18/advice-somali-pirates
Piracy is a scourge, but the heroic narrative of their forerunners could serve the Somali pirates well<p>In 1671 when <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/halloffame/historical_figures/henry_morgan.shtml" title="BBC: Sir Henry Morgan ">Henry Morgan's buccaneer army</a> streamed out of the jungle to attack the Spanish treasure city of Panama, some of his men wore the ragged red uniforms of Cromwell's New Model Army, taken from the government stores on Jamaica.</p><p>Some were in fact veterans of that army. They were (by then) &quot;among the most debauched&quot; pirates in Kingston but they nursed their old hatred of the Catholic enemy and used it to justify their aggression. This increased their support back home – support which in turn helped to feed the heroic myth of the buccaneer as swashbuckling adventurer. <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=y1-p0kZHQ-MC&amp;dq=The+Great+South+Sea:+English+Voyages+and+Encounters+1570-1750&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=V5HXNN4aft&amp;sig=perCRUpcBAjjvCib0BNo5HYka4c&amp;hl=en&amp;ei=hSTlTNY4iriEB7DaoN4M&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&amp;ct=result&amp;resnum=1&amp;ved=0CBkQ6AEwAA" title="The Great South Sea: English Voyages and Encounters, 1570-1750">According to this myth</a>, there was a distinction to be made between (Protestant) buccaneers, common men trying to make good, on the one hand and nasty greedy pirates, not infrequently French, on the other. Odd, since buccaneers were pirates of a sort.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/nov/18/advice-somali-pirates">Continue reading...</a>Piracy at seaSomaliaWorld newsAfricaThu, 18 Nov 2010 13:31:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/nov/18/advice-somali-piratesSipa Press / Rex Features/Sipa Press / Rex FeaturesThe French army negotiate with Somali pirates. Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex FeaturesSipa Press / Rex Features/Sipa Press / Rex FeaturesThe French army negotiate with Somali pirates. Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex FeaturesRobert Fowke2010-11-18T13:31:00ZWhy this obsession with Israel and the Palestinians? | Robert Fowkehttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jun/22/obsession-israel-palestinians-conflict
I'm not alone in my disproportionate interest in Israel – but why do so many of us pick away at this conflict like it's a giant scab?<p>I think of myself as an average sort of Englishman, a little to the left of centre politically but within the moderate middle ground. I like good beer and country walks. My tastes are boringly average.</p><p>So why do I, so far away and so much a product of my own country, take such an interest in the Israel-Palestine conflict? Where does my disproportionate interest come from, considering that other conflicts around the world are equal or worse in their unpleasantness?</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jun/22/obsession-israel-palestinians-conflict">Continue reading...</a>IsraelPalestinian territoriesGazaJudaismReligionBinyamin NetanyahuMiddle East and North AfricaWorld newsTue, 22 Jun 2010 09:00:12 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jun/22/obsession-israel-palestinians-conflictPool/REUTERSWhen I see Binyamin Netanyahu and his colleagues putting their side of some event, I do not see honest men. Photograph: ReutersPool/REUTERSWhen I see Binyamin Netanyahu and his colleagues putting their side of some event, I do not see honest men. Photograph: ReutersRobert Fowke2010-06-22T09:00:12ZRobert Fowke: A European caliphate?http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2008/nov/30/islam-religion-europe
Would Islam really manage to convince us Europeans to give up alcohol and segregate the sexes?<p>What would happen if Islam manages to convert Europe? An improbable turn of events but not completely inconceivable.</p><p>The problem is that religions adapt and mutate as they cross cultural boundaries. For instance, when Catholic missionaries converted the Aztecs to Christianity they were obliged to tolerate a cult of death involving sugared skulls deriving from worship of the goddess <a href="http://atheism.about.com/od/aztecgodsgoddesses/p/Mictecacihuatl.htm">Mictecacihuatl</a>; this despite Jesus never saying anything at all about sugared skulls. And the Christianity of Catholic Europe was itself far removed from early Middle-Eastern Christianity. The practice of modern American evangelicals is even further removed from the source. Cultures get hold of a new religion and twist it into a shape which suits. If Islam were ever to take hold in the densely populated countries of Europe it would undergo a similar process of adaptation. It may be instructive to consider what this process might entail.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2008/nov/30/islam-religion-europe">Continue reading...</a>IslamReligionSun, 30 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2008/nov/30/islam-religion-europeRobert Fowke2008-11-30T12:00:00ZRobert Fowke: On a ballroom dancing holiday in Tunisia, my prejudices about the Muslim world proved groundlesshttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/nov/18/islam-tunisia-ataturk-ballroom-dancing
On a ballroom dancing holiday in Tunisia recently, my prejudices about the Muslim world proved groundless<p>I have just returned from a ballroom dancing holiday in Tunisia. We booked in a spirit of curiosity as well as for a cheap holiday. Since the words &quot;ballroom&quot; and &quot;Tunisia&quot; do not slip easily from the tongue together, we were interested to see how things would go. Would the locals welcome us? Shout at us for breaking social mores? Or simply murder us for being kitsch? </p><p>Ballroom dancing is not entirely unknown to the Muslim world. There have been some prominent practitioners from Muslim backgrounds and it has been condemned at various times by conservative, religious figures. Its most significant proponent was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_Kemal_Atat%C3%Bcrk">Kemal Atat&uuml;rk</a> who took up dancing in 1914 when he was military attach&eacute; to the Turkish embassy in Sofia at the outbreak of the first world war and before he defeated the allies at Gallipoli. For a radical proponent of women's rights, Atat&uuml;rk was rather predatory in his personal behaviour. Stuck in Sofia and with few like-minded colleagues to keep him company, fuelled by a diet of cigarettes, black coffee and <a href="http://www.raki.com/">raki</a>, he went looking for women. Dancing was a means to an end. That soon changed, however, and it became a passion in its own right. Later, when leader of the Turkish Republic, he often finished off government receptions with a ball at the Ankara Palace Hotel. There is even an expression for his mode of doing business: &quot;ballroom diplomacy&quot;. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/nov/18/islam-tunisia-ataturk-ballroom-dancing">Continue reading...</a>IslamTunisiaDanceWorld newsAfricaTue, 18 Nov 2008 15:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/nov/18/islam-tunisia-ataturk-ballroom-dancingRobert Fowke2008-11-18T15:30:00ZRobert Fowke: Gin, drugs and the bank crisishttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/oct/25/drugspolicy-marketturmoil
Gordon Brown could look back to the 18th century for a way to pay for the banks' rescue and eradicate a modern plague<p>I have a cure for the financial hangover we're about to suffer. My cure will make us better, it will cost us nothing and it is based on solid, historical precedent.</p><p>In 1742, Britain was involved in the Austrian war of succession, our principle enemy being France. Our navy was very powerful but if we failed to participate in the land war on the continent, our allies threatened to make peace without us. We urgently needed money to finance a force of Hanoverian troops, to be based in Flanders. Lord Carteret, secretary of state under George II, proposed a &quot;sinking&quot; fund of &pound;1.8m to pay for the troops and for various other expenses, to be borrowed at 3% per year – and he also had a suggestion as to how to pay for it.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/oct/25/drugspolicy-marketturmoil">Continue reading...</a>Drugs policyMarket turmoilCredit crunchBanks and building societiesGordon BrownDrugsSocietySat, 25 Oct 2008 15:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/oct/25/drugspolicy-marketturmoilRobert Fowke2008-10-25T15:00:00Z